Tebis at the JIMTOF in Japan

12/12/2016

Along with the IMTS, the AMB and the EMO, the JIMTOF in Tokyo ranks among the world’s most important mechanical engineering trade fairs. It draws visitors from across northeast Asia, including key trade nations such as South Korea, China and Taiwan.

This year's fair took place from November 17 - 22 in the Tokyo International Exhibition Center and attracted a total of 882 exhibitors from 16 countries as well as more than 140,000 visitors, who learned about the latest developments in machine centers and tools, clamping devices, CAD/CAM systems and robots in manufacturing.

"Industry 4.0" forges ahead

The motto of the trade fair, "Smart Factory, Internet of Things (IoT), Industry 4.0" focused on a topic that's currently on everyone’s minds. Tebis has made significant advances in this area in recent years. Thus, focal points at the Tebis booth were, in particular, NC automation, die surface design and small parts manufacturing – the Tebis solution enables the entire small parts process to be completely digitized, including all clamping devices and cast blanks. In combination with an MES (Manufacturing Execution System), this results in a highly automated process that has already been implemented with great success by many die manufacturers around the world.

Hand in hand with tool and machine manufacturers

Visitors also showed great interest in the second focal point presented by Tebis at the fair, working closely with tool and machine manufacturers. True-to-life machining simulations were not only presented at the Tebis booth, but also at the booths of the collaboration partners, demonstrating very plainly and practice-oriented how well Tebis Software is coordinated with tools and machines.

For example, Mitsubishi Hitachi Tool Engineering, Ltd. presented a latest-generation tool: Tools in the "MHTE Gallea New Tool Series GP1LB" family combine three geometries in a single tool. This permits the machining of different slope areas within a geometry, using only a single tool. These tools harmonize perfectly with Tebis Software: In Tebis, the model can be split up in different milling areas based on slope in Tebis using special CAD functions. These areas can then be machined in a single pass, using different strategies and stepovers. Overall, the components are not only finished more quickly, but are also of very high quality. When combined with modern high feed rate technology and high-precision contact geometry, the results are even better.

It was clear at the trade fair booths of machine manufacturers SNK and Mitsubishi Heavy Industry Machine Tool Co., Ltd. that this technology is ideally suited to different machine types. SNK demonstrated machining virtually on a 5-axis gantry milling machine, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industry Machine Tool Co., Ltd. on an MVR-S 3-axis machine.

By the way, the exhibits at the booths of the three partners were also produced jointly: At Mitsubishi Hitachi Tool Engineering, Ltd. and SNK, the exhibit was an injection molding tool for producing a rear bumper, at Mitsubishi Heavy Industry Machine Tool Co., Ltd., a die for producing a B column. The partners provided the material and milling work, while Tebis provided the CAD models and performed NC programming in close cooperation with Mitsubishi Hitachi Tool Engineering, Ltd.

Positive balance

"The fair was a complete success for us," says Tebis Country Manager Christian Zierhut. "The interest expressed by our visitors has confirmed that we are on the right path. Our Japanese customers have relied on the high quality of Tebis products for more than 17 years. Tebis CAD/CAM is a key component in what has become a highly complex production process chain. This requires the perfect interaction of systems such as the CAD/CAM system, tool, clamping devices and machine. Our aspirations therefore go far beyond those of a simple CAD/CAM manufacturer: We feel a joint responsibility for the result of the process and want to guide the customer along his difficult decision paths! This is why close cooperation with our partners is so important. This allows us to work together with our partners to offer the customer a functioning manufacturing system with which it can achieve its most important goals: cost-effective manufacturing of high-quality products," adds Zierhut. "Of course, we're also happy that Tebis is becoming increasingly well-known in Japan. Our Japanese website also went online right at the start of the fair," Zierhut concludes.

Newsletter

Register for the Tebis newsletter and stay up to date.

Seminars

Project management basics

The faster markets change and the more complex customer requirements become, the more important solid project management is for small and medium-sized companies. Only those who can process orders as efficiently as possible can…

Success story

Tebis process solutions at Volkswagen

OEMs worldwide use software and process solutions from Tebis. For example, Volkswagen: What started in Wolfsburg, Germany, in 1992 with 3D surface machining is now an MES- controlled multi-shift manufacturing process in which…